My wife and I traveld to the Big Island this weekend to attend a two-day 3-D tournament.  Luckily, the shoot didn't begin until 9:30 am.  This meant that I had enough time to do a quick morning hunt.
My buddy and I headed out about a half hour before day break. He took me to one of his many favorite hunting areas.  We scrambled to an area where the sheep would be crossing, feeding as well as heading toward their bedding area.  About fifteen minutes into the hunt, we heard the sheep calling.  We were heading in the right direction!  A few minutes later, we bumped into a ewe and her baby.  Upon closer examination, we spotted another ewe and a huge ram.  The ram was feeding at fourty yards and he had no clue that we were there.  Motionless, we sat behind some dead brush.  They looked as if they were heading into a dry river bed.  We would make a final approach once all the sheep had found their way into that bed. Just as the last ewe made her way, we heard a rumbling of lava rocks above us. A herd of spooked sheep came running our way.  We nocked an arrow and got ready for whatever happened next.  Unfortunately, the sheep came trudging through at forty yards taking the smaller herd below us with them.  "Bummers! I thought we had that ram," I thought to myself. Disappointed, we decided to search for another herd.  This was our lucky day; it was only fifteen minutes later and we spotted a small herd of ewes.  They dropped into a small gulch and we persued them immediately.  The wind was in our face and they were heading directly away from us at a slow pace.  The sheep started to climb out of the gulch.  As soon as the last one headed over the top, we sprinted to get right below the ridgeline of their last location. We got there in a flash.  Peeking over the top, I saw three ewes feeding twenty yards away from me. Quickly, I nocked an arrow, focusing on the closet broadside ewe and fired!  The shot was a little forward, but it was a good hit.  She ran about twenty yards and stopped.  I glassed to check my shot.  I saw blood dripping, so I knew the shot was fatal.  Just for insurance I crept up for a follow up shot.  The second shot was good and the sheep expired about forty yards away from the second shot. It was now 8:00am and we still had to debone her, head back to the truck and get to the tournamant.  I took a quick pic with my bow and the sheep, then we deboned her in minutes and raced back to the truck.  We threw the meat on ice, jumped in the truck, and made it just in time for registration!  I already had a great day and it was only 9:30 in the morning!

 
Didn't have time to take good pics. Snapped one shot with the phone, then started to debone!


 
Sheep Country!


 
Phew! Made it back in time!

Congrats looks like a great day.

Nice job Ryan!  sounds like a great day

Congrats!

How'd the shoot go for you?

Congrats looks like a great hunt with time for the family also.

Very Nice

Appreciate the kind words from all.

Dave, I placed on both days, but it doesn't say much, lucky if we have a dozen trad shooters competing in our tournaments.  The majority of shooters compete in bowhunter free style.

Ryan

That was a timely hunt Ryan!

Thank you for sharin' and great follow-up shot!

Shoot straight, Shinken

Nice job !

cool! i didn't know there was sheep in hawaii.

are they feral domestic ones?

Clint,  we have feral, muflon and a hybrid(mouflon/feral) sheep.

Nice work. I bet they make good eatin.

Congrats bro!

Mahalo for the story Brah! Looks like a great hunt and some fine eatin. Placed or not in the 3d tournament, you made the shot when it counted for real.

Aloha.

By the way, Ryan makes the finest bowstrings out there, imho, and he makes them EXACTLY how you want them. They are on all the bows in our family.

   

Nice!            

 Way to go Ryan!

Mahalo (thanks) guys!

JC-  You are absolutely right!  Nothing means more to me than making the shot while hunting!  Yup those ewes are fine eating.  Bacon wrapped back straps on the grill! YUM!